Sometimes life doesn't go according to plan. Sometimes you find yourself on a road you never imagined you'd travel. Sometimes it can scare the pants off you. This is the story of how our little family came to be, continues to grow and how we (attempt to) manage the chaos.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I'm sure people are wondering how our big fundraiser went this weekend so I wanted to pop on briefly and share.

While we did not have the turnout we'd hoped in terms of numbers of people, we were incredibly blessed to have extremely generous guests who not only donated and bid on our silent auction items, but offered hugs, prayers and lots of support as well. To those who took time out of their busy schedules to join us on Sunday - Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your presence and support meant more to us that you could know. For those who weren't able to join us but offered financial support anyway - we are grateful. And for those who perhaps took a moment out of their day to offer up a prayer on our behalf - we deeply appreciate you as well.

All told, our summer fundraising has brought in just over $5000 and has put us within reach of the halfway point to having the funds we need to bring our baby home. We will continue to scrimp and save and rack our brains for other creative fundraising ideas. Most of all, we will continue to pray and have faith that we are travelling the road God intended and that He will show us the way.

I wanted to share the video I made for the fundraiser. Perhaps it will offer some hope to a waiting family out there. The music is off "The Spirit of Adoption" CD (which can be easily purchased on Amazon.com) - I HIGHLY recommend this CD for waiting adoptive families - it has helped me through some tough spots.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I last posted! Time sure does fly when you're drowning in paper!

It is now public knowledge that the Kyrgyzstan Embassy has changed dossier requirements. What this meant for us was redoing a good portion of our dossier, updating dates (because certain things now expire), getting a hold of new documents, having FBI clearances done and resubmitting the dossier for translation. We received our FBI clearances today - there's something oddly satisfying about seeing that "No arrest record" stamped across the page even though we were pretty darn sure that's how they'd come back! :)

We are currently one document shy of having a complete dossier. Once we get that in our hot, little hands it's off to the Secretary of State's office for a little authentication. After that's done and all of the translations are back, we will make many pounds of copies and ship everything off to our courier in DC for authentication at the Kyrgyz embassy. From there, le dossier will be on it's way to Kyrgyzstan!

It's shocking to me to look at our timeline and realize that we've already been at this for over three months. Last time I had our dossier assembled, authenticated and off to Kyrgyzstan about six weeks after we sent in our formal application. A few weeks later we had a referral and we were home with our little monkey a few months after that. While many parts of the process are easier this time (the waiting, the bumps in the road, the uncertainty), finding time to deal with all of the tediousness of it is much, much more difficult.

We had both of our large rummage sales over the last month and they were a success despite the recent flooding that prohibits a person from getting anywhere near our little town right now. We were so blessed by donations from friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances - we thank you all and are truly grateful!!

We are gearing up for our Silent Auction Fundraiser this coming Sunday. Again, we have been overwhelmed with people's generosity and are thrilled that we have about 25 really amazing auction items! As far as funds, it's tough to see the bright side, but we sure try. We are about 1/3 of the way to having the money we need to bring our little angel home. Something deep inside reminds me that it will all work out because it has to. It did last time and we were able to bring E home, so I do have faith that it will work again and LP will join our family.

About Me

I am a happy wife and lucky mom to four very special kids. If there's one thing I've learned over the past few years it's that life never goes as planned - and that's okay by me! feel free to email us: ksfenske@gmail.com

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For six long years we've held her tightly in our hearts. Leaving her behind in her orphanage was the hardest thing we ever had to do. We've fought like hell to be allowed to bring her home & promised her that we'd never give up.

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Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have which once you have got it you may be smart enought to see it is what you would have wanted had you known..... ~Garrison Keillor